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Topic: Integrated life style (Read 1394 times)

Hello from Kangaroo Island, South Australia. We are accidental beekeepers. We moved to Kangaroo Island in 1985 for a quieter lifestyle and I decided to keep 2 hives for a hobby. We are now certified organic honey producers and our honey is sold across Australia and exported. Currently we have 250 hives with further expansion planned to meet demand. However I do try to reserve time to maintain organic vegetable garden (based on 4 year planting cycle). I have 6 Welsh Harlequin ducks as snail foragers and weed processors (they also join me when turning over garden beds as they are avid worm consumers). We have wallabies roaming the streets and possums clambering across our roof nightly to collect apples and pears from the orchard. Our apiary sites are spread across the Island on farms (farmers approve of beekeepers because of the value of pollination to shelter belt vegetation and crops). We would not swap our lifestyle now, in spite of the occasional "bad bee day".